I Love You and I'm Not Afraid
by vellaky
Summary: [OneShotSongfic] Leo and Piper were robbed of time in Vaya con Leos. What if they were given one last chance? Piper and Leo centric. R


**This is just something i had to get out of my system. Every time i hear this damned song by Evanescence (Holding My Last Breath) i always get images of Leo leaving Piper or dying or whatever. Seeing that i've never seen the episode Vaya con Leos i don't really have much of a clue - i HAVE read a transcript though, so i have a general clue...**

**Anyway - a rough time line would be maybe a few weeks after the ep Vaya con Leos.**

**Hopefully now that i have gotten this out of my system, i can enjoy the Evanescence song more and not have ideas flooding my brain.**

**RR&E please... It'll make me happy - and a happy Kylie is a nice Kylie teehee...**

**oh yeah... disclaimer (which i seem to forget to put inALL of my fics) i don't own charmed -whish i did, i don't own the song either - wish i did, coz they are both wicked awesome - is anyone else angered by the fact that charmed is finishing up on the 8th season?**

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Piper was not sure where she was or how she had gotten here. She looked around confused and worried; hands poised, ready to blow up or freeze any intruder that looked the slightest bit like it would hurt her. She figured she was in some kind of demon hell dimension on first glance – bloodcurdling screams; rocky cliffs; spinning vortex both above and below. Her heart was racing in her chest; she could hear it pounding in her ears. It only became faster when she saw a figure advancing on her. She blew the menacing figure up – orbs flying everywhere.

_Wait, orbs?_ Piper thought. "Leo?" she breathed. He rematerialized in front of her. "Oh Leo, what're you doing here?" She looked at her husband with her dark, chocolate, brown eyes wide, and brought a shaky hand to her mouth. She fought the sting of tears as she stared at him. He looked terrible – his clothes were torn, his hair was a mess, he hadn't shaved in, what looked like, months.

"The question is, what are you doing here?" Leo asked, looking as confused as Piper.

Piper shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. "I… I don't know. We were… We were fighting a demon and now… I'm here." She threw herself on to him, wrapping him in her arms, losing the battle against her tears as they spilled down her cheeks.

_Hold on to me, love_

_You know I can't stay long_

_All I wanted to say was I love you_

_And I'm not afraid_

"Neither of us can stay here for too long, Piper." He reluctantly let go of Piper and held her by the arms, looking longingly into her eyes. He brushed some of her hair out of her face, gently. Piper felt herself go weak at the knees at his touch. She missed his touch – longed to feel for it again. "But since we're here," he began. "I can tell you the things I never got the chance to say." Leo's hand rested gently on her face and Piper reached up to hold it. She looked at him, waiting for him to continue. "I love you, Piper." Piper's emotions took over as she started crying heart-breaking sobs. "I love our boys; I love everything we've created and built together… my life was complete before I met you, but when I _did_ meet you, you made it whole. Our love is transcendent, Piper. The Elders, they were wrong about us, we proved them wrong." Leo was beginning to fight tears of his own as he watched the love of his life – the mother of his child – break down into a fit of tears. He pulled Piper into a tight embrace as she cried, and his own tears began to fall.

"I'm… scared," Piper hiccupped.

"There's no need to be… I'm not. You'll always feel my presence with you wherever you go," he assured. "It will get us through this all…" His voice was overcome with emotion.

_Can you hear me?_

_Can you feel me in your arms?_

Piper cried into his shoulder and held him tight with every ounce of strength she had in her body. She could feel Leo's heart beating through his chest, and fresh tears formed in her eyes. She held on to him with everything she would allow, afraid that if she let go one of the two of them would disappear and she did not want that to happen. They were robbed of their time together, and she wanted to get that time back.

_Holding my last breath_

_Safe inside myself_

_Are all my thoughts of you_

"How am I supposed to go on without you?" Piper cried. Her face was tinted pink from trying to hold her emotions in, but the sadness was forcing its way through, and Piper could not hold much of it in anymore. "I can't move on, when the life that we've built together stares me in the face every day… I can't do it," she sobbed. She looked Leo straight in the eye with a determined stare. "I _won't_ do it. It's too hard… I can't move on when I have two pairs of _your_ green eyes staring up at me everyday… I just…" She could not continue; she felt the lump rising in her throat; the tears that were threatening to spill, if she continued.

"There is a difference between forgetting someone and moving on Piper –"

Piper cut him off. "I don't want to forget you, Leo. You are my husband; I will _never_ forget you… But moving on is going to be hard and I just don't think I can do it alone." She began to break down again.

"You won't be alone, Piper. You'll have Phoebe and Paige with you to help you through this. Use the things that remind you of me… of _us_ and keep them in your thoughts. They will pain you right now, but within time, those thoughts will make you happy." His tone was more pleading than anything else he wanted to represent through his words.

_Sweet raptured light_

_It ends here tonight_

Both Piper and Leo knew that time was running out. They were not aware of how long they had left, but they knew that this night would be the last time they saw each other.

_I'll miss the winter_

_A world of fragile things_

_Look for me in the white forest_

_Hiding in a hollow tree (come find me)_

"I will never be too far away from you, Piper. You just need to look in the right places."

"What does that mean?" Piper scoffed.

"You'll know what it means, when you need it the most," he said smoothly.

Fresh tears spilled over Piper's face as she let go of the embrace.

_I know you hear me_

_I can taste it in your tears_

Leo knew he was being cryptic, he also knew it would make Piper angrier for being cryptic, but it was the only way he could say it, without saying it. He brought his hand up to her cheek, cupping it gently and wiped away Piper's tears with his thumb, feeling her pain. He held her face in his hands. Green eyes gazed into brown eyes, their heads drew near. Leo pressed his lips against Piper's. It was so tender; so innocent – their last kiss.

_Holding my last breath_

_Safe inside myself_

_Are all my thoughts of you_

_Sweet raptured light_

_It ends here tonight_

Piper could feel the pressure on her lips lighten. This feeling made her uneasy. She opened her eyes to find Leo fading away. She tried to hold on to the remnants of her husband; her hands went straight through him. "No," she wept, shaking her head. She tried to make another, desperate, grab for her diminishing husband.

"I will always love you, Piper," Leo's voice echoed.

"No…" Tears streamed down Piper's pale face. "Leo, no… don't leave me!" Piper fell to a heap on the floor. "Please don't leave me…" She looked up one last time, and found herself surrounded by bloodcurdling screams; rocky cliffs; spinning vortex both above and below… No Leo. She leant back against a rocky wall and cried heart-breaking, inconsolable tears.

_Closing your eyes to disappear_

_You pray your dreams will leave you here_

_But still you wake and know the truth_

_No one's there_

"Don't leave me!" Piper screamed as she flew out of bed with a start. She looked around at her surroundings – no bloodcurdling screams; no rocky cliffs; no spinning vortex either above or below – just a dark room – _her_ dark room. She was struggling for breath. Bringing a shaking hand to her mouth she felt the cold, wet, tears that had stung her face; she wiped at them furiously. She tried to slow her breathing down, but it only turned shallow as fresh tears built up and slid down her cheeks. She pushed the covers off of the big double bed and walked into the space that used to be her wardrobe, which was now being occupied by three year old Wyatt and two year old Chris. She stood over both of her sons and watched them sleep. She wiped away the fresh tears streaming down her face and breathed in deep. This seemed to startle Chris into waking up and he started to stir. Piper's hand shot down into the crib to stroke her son's hair. "Shh baby. Go back to sleep," she whispered soothingly. "It's okay, I'm here… I'll always be here."

_Say goodnight_

_Don't be afraid_

_Calling me, calling me_

_As you fade to black_

Piper slowly made her way back into her big, empty, bed. She pulled the covers over herself and sighed. She looked at the empty space beside her and closed her eyes; it was too painful to look at. She shook herself out of those thoughts and rubbed her face, trying to gain her composure. Her mind was calling out for him; longing for his touch; longing to hear his voice just once more.

_Holding my last breath_

_Safe inside myself_

_Are all my thoughts of you_

She slowly put her head back on the pillow, trying to grasp whatever she could remember of her dream. His words never left her mind – those words of peace – those last words…

Through the silent tears spilling down her cheeks, she smiled softly. He was right; he would never be too far away. If she needed to see him, all she had to do was close her eyes and she had her memories of him. He had found a way out of Limbo to give her one last memory… This one, like all of her other memories shared with Leo, was locked up safe in her heart. "I'll never forget you, Leo," she whispered into the darkness.

_Sweet raptured light_

_It ends here tonight

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**Reviews are ALWAYS welcome and constructive critcism - NOT FLAMES though... hit the button - c'mon it's so tempting...**


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